Method of producing animated cartoons



Sept. 28, 1948. PLACE METHOD OF PRODUCING ANIMATED CARTOONS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 8, 1944 Sept. 28, 1948. R. PLACE 2,450,017

METHOD OF PRODUCING ANIMATED CARTOONS Filed June 8, 1944 V '2 Sheets-Sheet -2 JZoe/I'J' Place,

Patented Sept. 28, 1948 METHOD OF PRODUGINQANIMALTED GARTOONSI Robert Place, Glen Cove, N. Y., assignor to Place Process, Inc., Washin ton). Di, 0..

Application June, 8, 1944,. Serial No. 539,245

18' Claims.

The present application is a continuation-inpart of my copending application Serial No. 25,309, filed June 6, 1935', renewed March 25, 19,39, and now Patent No. 2,351,634 issued June 20, 1944, and relates to improvements in the production of moving pictures. and, more particularly, comprehendsmethods' of producing animated cartoon pictures.

In prior methods of making animated cartoons, the artists drawings are hand-traced with black 'India ink on individual sheets of transparent Celluloid, after which the ink tracings are opaqued with a layer of' tone or color-producing material on the reverse side of the Celluloid sheets. Each Celluloid sheet is then superposed upon a sheet bearing apainted or other reproduction of a suit.- able background" and the composite picture is photographed to produce a master negative. Many disadvantages characterize the foregoing practice, most pronounced of which may be mentioned the time and expense incident to hand tracing of the artists drawings on the large number of individual Celluloid sheets necessary to produce a. complete series of animated pictures and the inaccuracies resulting from. hand mounting each Celluloid sheet before the camera to 'be photographed. Further, in the above practice,. the traced and opa'qued' Celluloid sheets when once photographed, are ill adapted for storagefor future use to employ the same action scenes on different backgrounds because of the bulkof thesheets and. because the tracings and opaque coatings deteriorateand become obliterated.

Among the objects of the present inventionare to overcome or greatly to reduce, the foregoing and, other disadvanage of heretofore: known methods and in this connection, to devise a novel method whereby better animated pictures may be produced more. quickly. and at less cost.v

Aieature of. the. invention comprises photo,- graphically reproducing the artists drawings upon Celluloid or other transparent medium with the accompanying advantage of eliminating the slow and inaccurate hand tracing step. As a further advantage-of this feature, any tone or color in line can be consistently produced by varying the exposure or by-bleaching-jand' dying the film, whereas of black India ink. Such transparent bodies upon which the animated drawingsv have: been photographically reproduced:- have the further object and! advantage overink-traced Celluloids in. that they may be stored? over long periods of time without deterioration and re-usedwhenever a similar action is wanted in a future film.

As a-iurther featureot the invention, the-draw ings may be photographically reproduced on-the sensitized transparent body insuch amanner that upon development thereof a variation in-elevati'on existsbetween the image lines and the surface of the transparency. Such variation in elevation has the important advantage, particularly when an opaque coating is applied to the imagecarrying side of the body, of providing aborder to guide theo'paquers brush and confinethecoating-mate'- rial to the area within the outlines of the images.

Another feature of the invention, and one of major importance; resides in photographically reproducing the drawings to be animated in series upon successiveframes of a strip or roll of Celluloid or other transparent medium and thus to dispense with the prior practice of providing; an individual Celluloid sheet for each one of the drawings of the series. Objects and advantages of providing such-aster),- in addition to the red-um tion in labor and cost of materials, are numerous and: include the following; the necessary applicanon. of toning or shadingmaterial or opaquin'g offthe figures on the strip is facilitated in that the strip may be merely unreeled before the worker instead of? involving the separate handling of a large number of individual sheets; whereas} a traced drawing is of thesame size as the artist's drawing; the photographic reproduction on the strip ofthe-artists drawing in my invention can be re'duced to any desired sizefor more convenient o'paquing with resultant saving in time and material; whereas in prior practice the background must be of a size to correspond with the traced figures comprising the foreground super,- poseci thereon; the backgrounds for use with the strips of my invention need not be of corresponding size s'ince diiferencein size or proportion can be compensated by merely varying the distance between the strip and background when the. same are positioned beforethe camera reproducing the master negative; and in this manner of backg' rounding, effective lighting or shading. of the background can be produced without disturbing the foreground figures;

(other objects and advantages of the present invention-will be apparent'from the following detailed explanationthereof. taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which areill'ustrative of a preferred embodiment.

' In the drawings:

Fig. I is a perspective View illustrating: prepara. tion ofthe usual artist's drawings;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the step of photographing the artists drawings in series on successive frames of a sensitized film;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing another step of transferring the images on the film of Fig. 2 to successive areas of a transparent strip;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged plan view of the transparent strip of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the image opaqued at the rear of the image in varying tones to complete the cartoon image;

Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the completed image bearing strip of Fig. 5 superposed on a background; and

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the As indicated in Figure 1, the first step in the practice of the present invention includes the provision of the usual sequence or series of artist's drawings l0. However, since the drawings are to be photographed instead of traced, they may vary from the conventional type in any manner which may be found suitable. For example, they may be larger than animation scale to any extent desired by the artist and then reduced to the desired animation scale in well known manner when photographically reproduced upon the transparent medium and they may contain fine detail and artistic effects not capable of being traced in normal animation scale upon Celluloid in India ink but which are capable of being photographically reproduced as comprehended by the present invention.

The series of drawings ID are photographed as indicated in Fig. 2 upon successive frames of any movie film or roll film 12 which may be of standard width if desired, by positioning the same consecutively before the camera and exposing the progressing film to consecutively photograph each drawing, thus to provide a very contrasty line negative when the film is developed. By us- -ing film sensitive, for example, to red, it is possible to photograph drawings done in red, whil marks and notations in blue, for example, will not be photographed. This has the advantage that the animator may do his rough sketches in blue pencil and then go over them with red pencil on the lines he wants to have reproduced and it will not be necessary to erase the blue pencil marks before the drawing is photographed. Further, for example, he may make notes or write instructions on the face of the drawing in blue p'encil, as none of the blue marks will be reproduced on the film.

The negative film images thus provided are then printed as indicated in Fig. 3 on successive frames or areas of a preferably larger strip of Celluloid or other transparent material [4, which has been coated with a sensitive photographic emulsion. The transparent strip M as well as the film l2 may have the images thereon arranged transversely of its length as shown in Figure 4 or longitudinally thereof as shown in the .plan view fragments at the sides of Figure 3.

4 foreground of the completed picture and to prevent the background from showing through. The coating may be of any suitable material and if colored pictures are to be produced, appropriate colors may be used to opaque instead of solid black or white. A transparent strip having its series of images opaqued and completed is fragmentarily illustrated at 16 in Fig. 5. It is understood however that a transparent body in the form of a strip having images on successive areas thereof such as It represents only one form of the present invention which comprehends the use of a transparent body in any other form such as individual sheets or cells for each image or groups of images to be animated.

By varying the exposure, or by bleaching or dyeing the transparent strip, individual sheet or other body, any tone or color in line can be produced. This is useful, particularly for color films, as a sharp black outline, such as results from India tracing ink, is not as desirable as a softer grayish outline or a colored outline.

In printing upon the sensitized transparent body from the negative film, it will be apparent that the relative size of the figures can be regulated as desired by varying the distance of the strip from the negative film. In shots which show a ball or other object moving toward or away from the camera in prior processes, it was necessary to draw and trace the same object in varying sizes from the smallest size to the largest size. In my method, however, one drawing is all that is necessary, since the varying sizes may be made .by adjusting the enlarging printer.

After any normal action, such as walking or running has once been animated or drawn, it need never be drawn again, as the negative film thereof can be kept on file and reproduced when the action is again wanted in any size, any position on the film and moving in either direction simply by adjusting the enlarging printer which enlarges and reproduces the negatives on the sensitized transparent strip or other body. It will thus be apparent that the total number of drawings needed to produce a complete animated picture film according to my process is considerably less than heretofore; in some cases, as low as half as many, or even less, particularly where the same characters are repeatedly used in the same or different films.

The photographed transparent roll or strip, individual sheets or cells, or other body can also be filed away for future use in a film calling for similar action. The opaque coatings, usually water colors, which would quickly dry and crack off, are

preferably washed off before storing the strip.

This may be easily done without affecting the photographic outlines, whereas such washing obliterates or destroys a traced outline and precludes storage for future use of tracedCelluloids.

To produce the final film or master negative,

the appropriately opaqued image on the transparent body as on the strip I6, is positioned in front of the desired background as shown at I8 in Fig. 6, and the composite picture is photographed. As indicated in Fig. 7, the strip may be unwound and each section or picture held in position between the camera and the background while the camera film 20 is correspondingly progressed to photograph the composite pictures in the proper order. Suitable apparatus for this purpose is available and well known in the art.

The transparent strip [6 or other image carrying body may be photographed either from the modem image carr ing: side": thereon or from the r-0pm- -sit'e side thereof; the important thingbei'n'g that the opaque coating be applied to:- thansparenc at-the rear of the image-in orderto complete the: cartoon image and that the image be photographed from the completed tac'e thereof.

. Ithasbeen' impracticable heretofore to opaque aminmtraced image ccrryingsideofitlie cell since the ink and coating: material are soluble to an extent sufiici'eht to result in blurri ngf or other impairment; of the opaqued' image; It has been oustomarytherefore in rior methods to apply theopaqu'e coating to the fac'e ot-the cell opposed to theink traced' image carrying face.

The fact that either side of the image carryin transparent body may be opaqued according to thepresentinvention gives-rise to important advantages. Among them" may be. mentioned that same action or animation sequence represented on the cells or strip areas to move in" one direction may be made to'move' in the opposite direction simply by washing on the opaque'coatin'g as first applied and opaqu-ing the opposite face oi the' cell or strip which'would be at therear of the images when the direction of motion i's reversed, Perhaps the greatest advantage however arises where the artists drawings arephotographically reproduced on the sensitized indivisual sheets or cells, strip areas or other transparent body in such a; manner that upon developmentthereof a variation in elevation existsbe- 'of the image.

Painted backgrounds of the con'ventioned' size heretofore used are readil y adaptable for use in my process and if the proportions thereof" are too large for the'tran sparent body pictures which comprise the foreground, the body" and background may be spaced apart a sufficient distance so that the composite will be photographed" by the camera in proper proportions obtained by adjusting the transparent body" and background relativeto the camera. When the backgroundis spaced: from the foreground, the same background may be subjected to various lighting effec'ts; for example, to give the appearance of night or' day, whereas with the background in contact with the foreground pictures as heretofore,v separate backgrounds must be provided to produce such effects.

The'fa'ct that the novel strip of my invention is moved before the camera taking the master negative, makes particularly adaptable to the process a novel backgrounding feature wherein photographs of painted backgrounds maybe used instead of the paintings themselves whose roughsurfaces would become chipped off or scratch the strip when it is passed th'ereover. The use of such photographs isadvantageous over the use of the original painted background in addition to the smooth" surface therebyprovided in that as many reproductions ofthe artists-background may be made as desired"- and .coloredicr shaded to produce a variety of beenground: eifeots from the: samebackground: as originally drawn: Further; photographic repro ductions ofbackgrounds: can: be readily made similar in size: to the strip or' in any other desired size'and may 'bei reduced from the original drawing" which: often is relatively largev better to enable the artist to introduce detail;

It is understood that the present invention embraces modifications andi deviations from the method herein described such as come within thes'cope of the following. claims.

The terms tones appearingin the claims is intendedto be a generic expression to include shades and-colors;

The term drawings as used in the following claims is employed? generically to embrace all equivalents of and substitutes for artists drawingssuch as pictures of any kind includingv reproductions of drawings, photographs of figures, etc.

I claim: i

lLT-he method of producing animated car:- toons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises, photographico-lly producing images: of said series of drawings on successive areas oil a transparent strip; op'acpiing the imagebearing face of thes'trl p within outlinestof the images invarying tones to complete the cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a" sensitized film.

2. The method of producing animated cantoons which comprises;- providing a seriesof: cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings on successive frames of a sensitized film,

'- transferring the images'on said film to successive areas of a transparent strip; opaquing' the image bearing face of" the strip within: outlines of the images in vary-ing" tones to complete the cartoon images; and phot'ographing the series: ofcom pleteddmag es on suc'cesslveframes of a sensitized film. g

3i The method of producing animated car toons which comprises, providing a series of cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings in reduced size on successive frames of! a sensitized film; transferring the" images on said film to=successive areas of a transparent strip in a relatively larger-size, opaquing the image hearing face of the strip within outlines of the images inlvarylng tones tocompletethe cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film.

4. The method of producing animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises; producing colored line photographic images of said series of drawings on successive area-sof a transparent strip, opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film; 5: The method of producing animated cartoons which comprises, providing a series of'cartoon drawings, photographing the series of d raw ings on successive frames of a sensitized film, producing colored line photographic images of the images on saidfilm on successive areas of a transparent strip, opaquing the image bearing face of" the strip within outlines of' the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film. 6 The method- 0f producing animatedcartoons which comprises, providing a series or cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings in reduced size on successive frames of a sensitized film, producing colored line photographic images of the images on said film in relatively larger size on successive areas of a transparent strip, opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film.

1. In the production of animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings, the method ofmaking an image bearing strip which comprises, photographically producing images of the series of drawings on successive areas of a transparent strip, and opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images.

8. The method of producing an image bearing strip for use in the production of animated cartoons which comprises, providing a series of cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings on successive frames of a sensitized film, transferring the images on said film to successive areas of a transparent strip, and opaquing the image bearing face of the strip Within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images.

9. In the production of animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings, the method of making an image bearing strip which comprises, producing colored line photographic images of the series of drawings on successive areas of a transparent strip, and opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images.

10. The method of producing an image bearing strip for use in the production of animated cartoons which comprises, providing a series of cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings on successive frames of a sensitized film, producing colored line photographic images of the images on said film on successive areas of a transparent strip, and opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete cartoon images.

11. The method of producing animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises, photographically producing images of said series of drawings on successive areas of a transparent strip, opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, placing said strip upon a photographic reproduction of a cartoon background and sliding the strip thereacross to successively arrange the series of opaqued images on said strip in coacting relation with said background and photographing the series of composite pictures on successive frames of a sensitized film.

12. The method of producing animated cartoons which comprises, providing a series of cartoon drawings, photographing the series of drawings in reduced size on successive frames of a sensitized film, transferring the images on said film to successive areas of a transparent strip in a relatively larger size, opaquing the image bearing face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, providing a cartoon background, photographically reproducing said background, placing said strip upon said photographically reproduced background and sliding the strip thereacross to suecessively arrange the series of opaqued images on said strip in coacting relation with said photographically reproduced background, and photographin the series of composite pictures on suecessive frames of a sensitized film.

13. The method of producing animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises, photographically producing images of said series of drawings on successive areas of one face of a transparent strip in such a manner as to provide a variation in elevation between the image line and the adjacent surface of said face,

opaquing the image carrying face of the strip within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film.

14. In the production of animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings, the method of making an image bearing strip which comprises, providing a transparent strip having successive sensitized faces, exposing said successive sensitized faces to said series of drawings, developing the exposed faces to provide a variation in elevation between the photographically produced image line and the adjacent area of said faces, and opaquing the image carrying faces within outlines of-the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images,

- 15. The method of producing animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises, photographically producing images of said series of drawings on successive sensitized transparent surfaces in such a manner as to provide a variation in elevation between the image line and the adjacent surface, opaquing the image carrying side of said transparent surfaces within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images and utilizing the variation in elevation to confine the opaquing material within the outlines, and photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of the sensitized film.

16. In the production of animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings, the method of making a transparent image bearing body for each of said drawings which comprises, providing a transparent body having a sensitized face, exposing the sensitized face of said body to one of said drawings, developing the exposed face to provide a variation in elevation between the photographically produced image line and the adjacent area of said face, and opaquing the image carrying face of the body within outlines of the image in varying tones to complete the cartoon images and utilizing the variation in elevation to confine the opaquing material within the outines. I

17. The method of producing animated cartoons from a series of cartoon drawings which comprises, providing a series of sensitized transparent sheets, photographically producing images of said series of drawings on a sensitized face of said series of transparent sheets in such a manner as to provide a variation in elevation between the image line and the adjacent surface of said face, opaquing the image carrying face of the sheets within outlines of the images in varying .tones to complete the cartoon images and utilizing the variation in elevation to confine the opaquing material within the outlines, and

photographing the series of completed images on successive frames of a sensitized film.

18. In the production of animated cartoons providing a series of sensitized transparent sheets,

exposing a sensitized face of said series of sensitized transparent sheets to said series of drawings, developing the exposed sheets to provide a variation in elevation between the ph'otographically produced image line and the adjacent surface of the sheets, and opaquing the image carrying face of the sheets within outlines of the images in varying tones to complete the cartoon images and utilizing the variation in elevation to confine the opaquing material within the outlines.

ROBERT PLACE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

10 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,198,600 Sudmann Sept. 19, 1916 1,292,149 Teague Jan. 21, 1919 2,351,634 Place June 20, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,745 Great Britain 1854 OTHER REFERENCES American Cinematographer for Feb. 1938; pp.. 48 to 50, 58 and 59 cited. 

